Blood of Mud, Wing of Bat

Chapter 22: I Didn't Want to Know That

Malfoy's office looked much different at night. The outer windows, now darkened, no longer dominated the room. Instead it was the narrower strip of inner windows that were brightest, looking out over the still-busy production floor. The panelling of the office walls was more striking too, the lustre of expensive hardwood still gleaming through decades-darkened varnish.

At the moment, the office was entirely unlit save for the inner windows and the fireplace, which had a roaring green fire in it. Malfoy was seated at his desk. It looked like he was fire talking but there was no face visible in the fire.

In her fly form, Hermione buzzed as quietly as she could over to a shelf where she was close enough to have an excellent view of both Malfoy and the fireplace. Even from this angle there was nobody visible in the green flames.

But then a voice issued from them, hissing and genderless, apparently obscured by a simple Voice Hiding Charm.

"Yes, the Explatteratus," said the voice. "Johnson said several of the Death Eaters had learned it, but that you were the only one who still used it, and that you'd gotten a lot better at it. He said that all of the more recent victims that had been found were literally vaporized."

Hermione realized the voice must be talking about Johnson's controversial radio interview.

Malfoy gave a noise that sounded like a short, stressed-out laugh.

"Vaporized," he said. "That's a word for it." He rubbed his face with a hand, then let the hand fall. He was slumped back in his chair and the bottle of Ogden's Extra Special was once again beside him. It looked colorless in the green light.

"Is it true?" inquired the voice.

There was a long silence. Malfoy did not answer. Maybe he was thinking about the incidents the voice described - if, indeed, they had actually happened. His slitted eyes were on nothing in particular. His fingers idly traced the twisted silvery strands of the restraining charm on his left wrist.

"You shouldn't touch that," said the voice.

Malfoy's eyes narrowed more. "How did - ?"

"Don't worry, I can't see you," said the voice. "But when you touch it, it shows up on the dial here as a tamper attempt."

And from that, Hermione knew that the person on the other end of the Floo must be either an Aur Central worker or employed by the Department of Magical Transportation. Someone who was physically in the same place as the controls for the restraining charm in any case.

Malfoy removed his hand from the charm and straightened up, reached for the bottle of Extra Special. He filled his shot glass, the clink of bottle-on-glass clearly audible in the still air.

"You shouldn't drink so much either," said the voice. "For a lot of reasons."

"I know," said Malfoy.

"You didn't make it to your S.P.E.W. meeting tonight," said the voice. "Why?"

"I overslept," said Malfoy. He brought the glass to his lips and swallowed the shot, then leaned back in his chair again with the empty glass in his hand. His eyes were closed again. "I slept nearly six hours today. I haven't had that much sleep at one time in a year."

"Sloppy," said the voice.

There was a brief silence.

"No," said Malfoy eventually. "No, that's how I'm going to do it from now on. I'm starting to lose it. I can't go on the way I have been, only two or three hours of sleep at a time. When it's reached the point where I have to refer to the bloody Memoralias charm to remember how I began a sentence, I need to start getting more rest."

"How?" whispered the voice. A pause, and then: "Time turner?"

There was a long silence. It grew longer and longer.

"Risky," said the voice when Malfoy did not answer.

Malfoy didn't answer that either.

"You're determined to go ahead with your Batwing plan then?" inquired the voice. "You'll be there all the time now?"

"Yes," said Malfoy.

"Also risky."

"Also none of your business," said Malfoy.

"True. How are you going to handle Weasley?"

Malfoy let his head fall back. Hermione could see the pale line of his throat stretched out, the glint of his eyes as he searched the ceiling.

"I have no idea," he said.

"Maybe Explatterate her?" asked the voice, slyly.

Malfoy snorted. "Yes, that would an intelligent move, wouldn't it?" He grasped the arm of the chair and pulled himself upright again. "Look, if you can't tell me when they're going to be raiding my house, then I have to go. I have meetings."

"Soon," said the voice. "They've moved it up."

"I know, soon," said Malfoy. "I know they've moved it up. How soon?"

There was a long silence.

Malfoy picked up the bottle and filled his glass again during the silence. He was leaning on his desk, his head bowed. As the silence kept growing longer, he lifted his head long enough to drink his shot. Hermione could hear him swallow.

"Do you trust her?" asked the voice, at last, as if Malfoy had never raised the question of the raid.

"Maybe," said Malfoy.

"She's a Weasley," said the voice.

"By marriage."

"Even so."

Malfoy said nothing to that.

"Do you still want to know when the raid will be?" whispered the voice.

"Yes," said Malfoy.

"Ask her. She's coming from here. She just left."

And then the green fire abruptly snuffed itself.

The room was plunged into semi-darkness.

She's coming from here. She just left.

So Malfoy had a contact within the Aur Central offices. Someone with access to the controls of the restraint charm. This was something Arthur would want, would need to know. It meant that Malfoy might be able to get away with flying under certain circumstances. And maybe would be able to circumvent the Apparition restraint if the Aurors ended up implementing that too.

If everything they said about Malfoy was true, innocent Muggles could die because Arthur didn't know this. Would die because Arthur didn't know this.

Hermione felt ill. She had learned too much. She would have been better off not knowing any of this, but because of her compulsion to spy she was now faced with a very tough decision.

How much could her oath as an employee mean, if people's lives were directly at stake?

As she slipped unseen from the office, the thought of having to actually meet with Malfoy in a few minutes was almost unbearable.